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21L.434

Science Fiction and Fantasy

3-0-9 units. HASS-H · Undergraduate

Traces the history of science fiction as a generic tradition in literature, media, and popular culture. Considers formal ideological and cultural approaches to the analysis and interpretation of science fiction and fantasy texts. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor if content differs.

Fall 2024 · The Science Fiction of Freedom

What does it mean to be free? Is freedom a state of mind? An inalienable property of the self? The absence of coercive or oppressive structures? Such questions often inspire philosophers to develop thought experiments about alternative worlds. These same questions lie at the heart of many major works in science fiction. This subject will put the two together—philosophy and science fiction—to consider speculative techniques for imagining freedom.

Readings

  • [Dick] Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Ballantine Books, 2008. ISBN: 9780345404473.
    Listed reading
  • [Erdrich] Erdrich, Louise. Future Home of the Living God. Harper Perennial, 2018. ISBN: 9780062694065.
    Listed reading
  • [Yu] Yu, Charles. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. Vintage Books, 2011. ISBN: 9780307739452.
    Listed reading
  • Niccol, Andrew (director). Gattaca . Columbia Pictures, 1997.
    Listed reading
  • Le Guin, Ursula K. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Variations on a Theme by William James).” Utopian Studies 2, no. 1/2 (1991): 1–5.
    Listed reading
  • Rawls, John. “The Veil of Ignorance” and “The Rationality of the Parties” in A Theory of Justice. Belknap Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780674000780.
    Listed reading
  • Thomson, Judith Jarvis. “A Defense of Abortion.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 1, no. 1 (1971): 47–66.
    Listed reading
  • [Erdrich] Future Home , part I (pp. 3–119)
    Listed reading
  • [Erdrich] Future Home , part II (pp. 123–209)
    Listed reading
  • [Erdrich] Future Home , part III (pp. 213–267)
    Listed reading
  • Butler, Octavia. Bloodchild and Other Stories. Seven Stories Press, 2005, pp. 1–32. ISBN: 9781583226988.
    Listed reading
  • Berlin, Isaiah. “Two Concepts of Liberty” in Four Essays On Liberty. Oxford University Press, 1969, sections I-III. ISBN: 9780192810342.
    Listed reading
  • Ellison, Harlan. “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” in Greatest Hits, Union Square & Co., 2024. ISBN: 9781454953371.
    Listed reading
  • Sarte, Jean-Paul. Excerpt from Existentialism is a Humanism . Yale University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780300115468.
    Listed reading
  • [Yu] How to Live Safely , Module Alpha (pp. 3–91)
    Listed reading
  • Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature. Penguin Books, 1984. Part III, Sect. 1 and 2. pp. 447–460. ISBN: 9780140432442.
    Listed reading
  • [Yu] How to Live Safely , Modules Beta & Gamma (pp. 95–187)
    Listed reading
  • [Yu] How to Live Safely , Module Delta–Appendix A (pp. 191–233)
    Listed reading
  • [Dick] Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , Chs. 1–5 (pp. 3–57)
    Listed reading
  • Nozick, Robert, selections from Anarchy, State, and Utopia (C)
    Listed reading
  • [Dick] Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , Chs. 6–11 (pp. 58–119)
    Listed reading
  • [Dick] Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , Chs. 12–22 (pp. 120–224)
    Listed reading
  • Le Guin, Usula K., “Nine Lives” in The World Treasury of Science Fiction , edited by David G. Hartwell. Little Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 572–594. ISBN: 9780316349413.
    Listed reading
  • Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” in Walden: 150th Anniversary Edition , edited by J. Lyndon Shanley, Revised. Princeton University Press, 2004, pp. 81–98. ISBN: 9780691096124.
    Listed reading
  • Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Ballantine Books, 2008. ISBN: 9780345404473.
    Required
  • Erdrich, Louise. Future Home of the Living God. Harper Perennial, 2018. ISBN: 9780062694065.
    Required
  • Yu, Charles. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. Vintage Books, 2011. ISBN: 9780307739452.
    Required

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H Can be repeated for credit.

Sources